> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://pomeroy.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

> Download Pomeroy, switch on the apps you want, connect your AI assistant, and get your first answer from your own Mac in about five minutes.

By the end of this page your AI assistant will answer a question about your own
calendar, using data that never leaves your Mac.

<Info>
  **Before you start.** You need macOS 15 or later and an AI assistant that runs
  on your Mac. Pomeroy sets itself up in twenty-four of them, and any assistant
  that can start a local MCP server works from the same configuration.

  No assistant yet? [Claude Desktop](https://claude.com/download) is free and a
  good first one. An assistant that runs in someone else's cloud, such as
  claude.ai or ChatGPT on the web, cannot reach your Mac at all.
  [Why](/docs/assistants/cloud-assistants).
</Info>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install Pomeroy" icon="arrow-down-to-line">
    [Download Pomeroy](https://pomeroy.app/download), open the disk image, and
    drag Pomeroy into your Applications folder. Open it.

    Pomeroy adds a small tree icon to your menu bar and opens a setup window. It
    has no Dock icon and no main window. The menu bar is where it lives.

    <Tip>
      Keep Pomeroy in `/Applications`. Assistants are configured with the path
      to a program inside the app bundle, so moving the app elsewhere means
      setting them up again.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the apps your assistant can reach" icon="toggle-on">
    The setup window shows the ten apps Pomeroy can serve. **Everything starts
    switched off.** Switch on the ones you want.

    Start with Calendar if you just want to see this work.

    As you switch each one on, macOS asks you to approve it. The prompt names
    Pomeroy and it comes from macOS, not from us. Nothing is requested for an
    app you leave off. [What each app asks for](/docs/getting-started/permissions).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your assistant" icon="plug">
    Pomeroy lists the assistants it finds on your Mac. Find yours and press
    **Set up**.

    What that does depends on the assistant, and Pomeroy picks whichever
    mechanism its own vendor documents: an extension, an install link, its own
    CLI, its configuration file, or your clipboard. Your assistant's own page
    says which, and how to check it worked.

    <Card title="Find your assistant" icon="list" href="/docs/assistants/overview">
      All 24, with the exact configuration for each.
    </Card>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Restart it, if it needs it" icon="rotate">
    Assistants differ. Claude Desktop and Codex want a full quit and reopen;
    Claude Code and goose want a new session; most editors pick the change up on
    their own. Pomeroy shows the right line for yours when setup finishes, and
    so does its page here.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask something" icon="comment">
    In your assistant, ask:

    ```
    What's on my calendar today?
    ```

    It calls Pomeroy, Pomeroy reads your Mac's calendar, and the answer comes
    back. That is the whole loop.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Try a few more

Each of these uses a different app. They only work for apps you switched on.

<CodeGroup>
  ```text Calendar theme={null}
  Am I free on Friday afternoon?
  ```

  ```text Mail theme={null}
  Find the flight confirmation from March and tell me the times.
  ```

  ```text Reminders theme={null}
  Remind me to renew my passport next Friday.
  ```

  ```text Notes theme={null}
  Find my note about the boiler pressure.
  ```

  ```text Messages theme={null}
  Find the message with the door code.
  ```

  ```text Shortcuts theme={null}
  Run my Wind Down shortcut.
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Longer runs through a whole job, with the asks in order, are in the
[guides](/docs/guides/overview).

## What just happened

Your assistant did not get access to your Mac. It got access to a fixed list of
tools, and each tool does exactly one thing.

When you asked about your calendar, it called a tool named `calendar_today`.
Pomeroy checked that your Calendar toggle was on, read today's events through
EventKit, the same interface the Calendar app uses, and handed the result
back. Your events then became part of your conversation with that assistant,
exactly like text you had pasted in.

Nothing was sent to a Pomeroy server, because there isn't one.
[What leaves your Mac](/docs/privacy/what-leaves-your-mac) is the full list of
requests Pomeroy makes, and a test fails if that page and the code disagree.

## If nothing showed up

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Your assistant says it has no Pomeroy tools" icon="circle-question">
    Most assistants read their server list when they start. Quit it fully and
    open it again; on a Mac that means **Quit**, not closing the window. Claude
    Code and goose need a new session instead.

    Still nothing? See [An assistant cannot see the
    tools](/docs/getting-started/troubleshooting#an-assistant-cannot-see-the-tools).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="It says an app is switched off in Pomeroy" icon="toggle-off">
    That is Pomeroy answering, and it is working correctly: you asked about an
    app whose toggle is off. Click the menu-bar icon, choose **Settings**,
    switch the app on, and ask again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Your assistant is not in Pomeroy's list" icon="list">
    Any assistant that can start a local MCP server works. Copy the
    configuration from [any assistant's page](/docs/assistants/overview) and paste it
    wherever that assistant keeps its MCP servers. If it takes a URL rather than
    a command, it wants [the local endpoint](/docs/configuration/http-endpoint)
    instead.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="macOS says Pomeroy cannot be opened" icon="lock">
    Pomeroy is signed and notarised by Apple, so this normally means the
    download did not finish. Delete it and [download it
    again](https://pomeroy.app/download).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/docs/getting-started/configuration">
    Pomeroy's settings: apps, the endpoint, updates and your licence.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Permissions" icon="toggle-on" href="/docs/getting-started/permissions">
    What each toggle grants, and what macOS asks you for.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Guides" icon="book-open" href="/docs/guides/overview">
    Whole jobs, end to end, with the asks in order.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The free allowance" icon="gauge" href="/docs/licence/free-allowance">
    What counts as an action, and what happens at 50.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>